The University organized a research day and alumni meeting at the embassy in Washington D.C.

News:
Oct 31, 2017

Professor Jonas Nilsson, Sahlgrenska Cancer Center

In late October, the University of Gothenburg co-organized two events in Washington D.C. On October 26, the research day Research and Innovation Addressing Societal Challenges was held at the Swedish Embassy in Washington D.C. The evening before the research day an alumni meeting for former students located in the United States was arranged at the embassy.

The University of Gothenburg arranged an alumni meeting and a research day in Washington D.C. The two events is a pilot for a collaboration project between five Swedish universities and Sweden's Embassy in Washington. The purpose of the research day was to discuss global societal challenges, to make research and innovation visible to participating institutions and to highlight Sweden as a country for the United States to collaborate with in research. During the research day three separate segments were organized: Cancer, Sustainable Development and Towards inclusive labor markets and societies in the age of migration. A researcher from the University of Gothenburg was presented within each seminar.

‘The participation in the research day gave opportunities to talk about the benefits for Americans to collaborate with Sweden. Throughout the seminar and the round table discussion, I also got a direct insight into the so-called Cancer Moonshot Initiative. Sweden is about to invest in precision medicine, it can lead to more cooperation with the United States in the future’, said Jonas Nilsson, Professor, representing Sahlgrenska Cancer Center.

Also from the University of Gothenburg the researchers Per Knutsson, School of Global Studies and Centre for Sea and Society, and Andreas Diedrich, Centre on Global Migration. Per Knutsson discussed sustainability issues and Andreas Diedrich coordinated the migration seminar, moderated by a researcher from the Migration Policy Institute in Washington.

‘The participation in the day of research gave me new contacts with several American researchers in my area and initial discussions about a joint application for a comparative pilot study on integration’, says Andreas Diedrich

Sylvia Schwaag Serger, in charge of international strategy at Vinnova guided the participants through the research day. In addition to several researchers from the other universities who were co-organizers, also participating were Dr. Rush Holt, President of the Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), Dr. James Olds, Deputy Director of Biological Sciences, National Science Foundation (NSF) and Karin Olofsdotter, Sweden's Ambassador to the United States. The day was ended with closing remarks by Mikael Damberg, Swedish Minister for Enterprise and Innovation.

The evening before the research day an alumni meeting was arranged. Among the alumni of the University of Gothenburg were former exchange students, international master's students and students who have been in exchange studies in Washington and then returned.

'This is the first time I see that something like this is being organized for GU alumni. A really fun and good initiative', says Anna Olsson, who studied political science at the University of Gothenburg and currently works at the American University, Washington D.C.

Photo: Alumni Sanaz Ettehad, Anna Olsson och Lucas Regner.

The alumni meeting and the research day in Washington D.C. was arranged in collaboration between the University of Gothenburg, Stockholm University, Lund University, Uppsala University and Umeå University and the Swedish Embassy in Washington. The Swedish Research Council and Vinnova were also involved in parts of the program on the research day.

Contact: Karolina Catoni, International Reletions Officer at the International CentreE-mail: karolina.catoni@gu.seTelephone: 031-786 2679